


From another World (Hypothetically)

by The_Silent_Writer



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: A lot of confusion on Newt's part, F/M, Gen, Godzilla paraphernalia, I APOLOGIZE, M/M, Mental Anguish, WIP, [insert lame AU!ception joke here], based on Feriowind's AU, because I don't know how to continue/finish things, technically an AU of an AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-15 04:07:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4592316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Silent_Writer/pseuds/The_Silent_Writer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newt wakes up confused. He's not where he's supposed to be. He should be with Hermann, becoming rock stars and cancelling the Apocalypse, but instead he's... in a room covered in Godzilla posters.</p><p>[A crack at Feriowind's AU, "Hypothetical", because I was brought to tears when I saw it for the first time.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Through cringed teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hypothetical](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/137166) by Feriowind. 



> HOVER TEXT IS A THING! PUT YOUR CLICKER OVER THE GERMAN LATER ON AND MAGIC! (TRANSLATION AT THE END FOR LOVELIES ON THEIR PHONES)

“Initializing Neural Handshake in 5-4-3-2…1!”

 

It was all a blur of wispy electric-blue and white smoke. Of them as a child catching their first fish with their uncle, of their time working day in and day out at MIT… Memories of them huddled in a corner crying, of learning formulas and algorithms. They see it all. Cold nights in the ‘Dome where all they wanted was the heat of another person to keep them company… The burning pull and tear of muscle as they’re put together by the Creators.

They can still hear the warning sirens blaring overhead and undertow. They can see and feel the masses of humans screaming and shoving as they ran for shelters…

A wave of annoyance threads through them when the incessant bleating of their alarm clock doesn’t stop…

 

…his alarm clock?

 

Newt shot of bed like the thing was one fire. Frantic, unfocused eyes darted back and forth. He was panting and sweating and nauseated…

Where was he?

He didn’t know where he was. The room was small and lit solely by the sun’s rays that found their way in through the window to his right. Everything was fuzzy, he needed to find his glasses, but where the hell were they? He stumbled and fell on his way back to what he thought was the nightstand. He would have busted his nose if not for the mattress.

Holy shit was that memory foam?

Fumbling around finally found him his glasses and the moment he put them on he wished he hadn’t.

This was not his room. These things were not his. Granted, there was maybe one-too-many Godzilla posters on the walls that definitely _could_ have been his. But they weren’t.

Newt was not where he was supposed to be.

Oh God.

The Kaiju.

He bolted out of bed again, racing for the nearest exit that would get him out onto the streets of Hong Kong and back to the ‘Dome so he could tell the Marshal and Chuck that Operation Pitfall wasn’t going to work. That they needed one of the Kaiju to make it through.

Newt sped out of the building he was in (an apartment complex, he thought) and was greeted with a bright, very sunny morning on a bustling city street.

Not the raining, dark slums of Hong Kong he had left behind.

Without thinking he snatched the closest arm he could reach.

“Ow, hey man! What the fuck’s your problem?”

“Sorry, I’m sorry, please! Just tell me what today is?” He knew the crazed look he had to have. Newt could see it reflected in the disgusted gaze of the stranger he had stopped.

“It’s Saturday.”

 _Then today, it should still be today in Hong Kong, maybe it’s not too late._ “Can you tell me where I am?”

The ever-growing confusion was plastered on the man’s face. “San Fran,” was all he said before he yanked his arm away and walked on as if he hadn’t just been approached by a short, very desperate-looking guy.

Newt mouthed the answer he was given. San Fran. But that made no sense. Over all the smells that came with the busy city, he could smell the ocean. He shouldn’t be able to, no one should, not after Oblivion Bay. The only thing he should be able to smell was Kaiju Blue.

But there was none. He’d know. If there was any one on this green and blue marble that could pick out Kaiju Blue stank out of a thousand others, it’d be Newt. So why couldn’t he?!

This made no sense.

“Newt? Brother, what are you doin’ out here dressed like that?”

He spun around, desperately trying to find the source of that voice. The only thing running through his head was _you know that voice, that voice means familiarity, that voice means you can’t be crazy, you can’t be losing it, you can’t—_ “TENDO?!” The moment Choi came into view, Newt made a mad dash towards him. His hands were everywhere, poking Tendo’s cheeks, pulling on his bowtie, grabbing his hands. Anything to tell Newt that something here was normal. “What the hell are you doing here?!” he squeaked, “We need to leave, we need to tell Pentecost—”

“Hey, buddy, slow down. What are you talking about? Did you have another night terror? Wait,” Tendo looked around, his eyes glaring down anyone that so much as looked in Newt’s direction funny. “Before you answer that, let’s get you inside, okay?”

Despite the voice in Newt’s head screaming at him to _leave, find your way back to the ‘Dome, save the goddamned world_ , he let himself be lead back into the building he had sprang from. The moment they were in what was apparently his living room, Newt continued where he left off. “Ten, seriously, we need to find a way to contact Pentecost  _now_. If we don’t—fuck! You know exactly what’ll happen!” The longer he went on, the more stress he could feel rising up his spine.

Tendo sat on the couch like he owned it (Newt wouldn’t be surprised if he actually did) keeping his body language open and patient. It pissed Newt off to no end that Tendo was looking far calmer than he should in this situation.

“Bud, I’m gonna ask again: did you have another night terror? Is that why you’re panicking right now?”

Newt’s mind did a double-take on the question. “Wha—? No! I’m serious! What is wrong with you right now?! Have you maybe-I-don’t-know forgotten about the apocalypse brought on by the Kaiju and their freaky-ass Creators that is literally _this close_ to being a fucking reality?! Have you stopped caring about whether we all get to live and see another fucking day?!” He was beginning to hyperventilate now, there wasn’t enough air. He couldn’t breathe.

Tendo Choi being fucking Tendo Choi knew exactly what to do. He hopped up from his spot on the couch and ran around the apartment. He brought a huggable-sized plush of Mothra out of Newt’s room and rifled through Newt’s CD stacks until he found the one he was looking for. In less than a minute he had Newt sitting on the couch, holding onto his stuffed animal for dear life while soundscapes of a riverside filled the room.

“When you can talk again, you can stop me, but for now I’m going to ask a few questions and try to work out what’s happening right now, okay?” He nodded along with Newt. “Okay, if I ask yes or no questions, can you answer them?” Yes. “Good, that’s great, brother. Now, did you just wake up?” Yes. “Did you have a nightmare or worse?” There was a shake of the head, then a helpless shrug as Newt held onto Mothra even tighter. No, I don’t know. “Hey, that’s okay. Everything’s okay right now.” Fierce head shaking. No, it’s not! “…Alright, when you woke up, did you know who you were?” Yes. “Did you know where you were?” No. “Do you now?” … no. “Do you know what today is?” Yes. “How about—”

“Tendo?” Newt hated how fucking scared he sounded right now.

“Yeah, Newt?”

“Do you know what Kaiju are?”

“You mean like Godzilla and his band of misfits? Yeah.”

“No, I—I mean…” Something that felt like a lead weight dropped in his stomach. “Do you know what the Breach is?”

There was too long of a pause for Newt’s liking. “No, can’t say I do.”

“… What about Jaegers? Gypsy Danger? Do you know what she is?”

Tendo looked genuinely sorry to disappoint. “I don’t. I’m sorry, brother.”

Newt leaned back in his seat, his head dropping onto the couch unceremoniously. He didn’t even try to stop the tears that made their way down his stubbled cheeks.

Something horrible had finally clicked in Newt’s mind.

There was a reason nothing made sense, why everything was so normal and nothing was wrong…

It was because nothing  _was_ wrong.

There were no Kaiju. There were no Jaegers. There was no apocalypse to cancel.

He hadn’t been able to smell the Kaiju Blue because there was none.

Wherever he was now, Kaiju weren’t a daily fear in the hearts of those that made a home around the Pacific Ocean. A part of him, in the very back of his mind, told him that he should be grateful, that he was free from the terror that were Kaiju and the hell they brought with them. But really, all he could feel was the gnawing guilt, eating its way from the inside out. Deep down he knew that he was too late. A glance at the wall clock to his right and a couple of time zone differences in his head told him all he needed to know.

His world had lost the war.

Everything he had ever loved and cared about was gone. His home, the one he had made for himself at the ‘Dome, was gone.  _His_ Tendo,  _his_ friends,  _his_ family,  _his_ Hermann… Oh God. Hermann. He had left him all alone in the streets of Hong Kong. But maybe… maybe Hermann had made it to the ‘Dome? He could’ve. It was a possibility that Newt was very eager to entertain. Yeah, Hermann saw exactly what he had. He knew Pitfall wasn’t going to work, he would’ve made it back to warn everyone.

A small smile made its way onto his face. “Gut... Ich bete, du hast es geschafft, Herms...” he whispered in his native tongue.

At that moment, he made a decision, one he wasn’t sure he would ever be alright with going through with. “Dude, Tendo,” he sniffed, looking over at Tendo, who had made a perch for himself on a stool nearby, “I’m so sorry about that just now. I haven’t had a night terror that bad in years.”

Tendo immediately looked relieved. “I’m sorry it happened. You good now?”

“Yeah…” he lied, showing off one of his best smiles as he wiped his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good.”


	2. His Third Law

Newt did pretty damn well at pretending to be good in front of Tendo.

They had brunch together in the apartment, which Newt only picked at, blaming the “night terror” on his lack of appetite. They also shared light conversation during and after. Newt made sure it was kept so light that it could have been blown away by the softest of breezes. There was way too much that he didn’t know about this world and about his life to go about chattering away. He did learn that he worked at an aquarium, which was pretty cool. He wasn’t sure what he did there yet, but the information was great to have.

Tendo worked down at the local university in its robotics lab. “Everything’s going well right now,” he had said. “Mako’s even got her own little bots running around the place.”

Newt beamed at the knowledge that there was a Mako here as well, and that she was getting to do what she loved.

Everything was just so normal.

Newt could relearn to enjoy normal.

The two men said their goodbyes a few hours later. Newt kept assuring and reassuring that he was alright, he just needed to take a nap and he’d be right as rain. With a huge bout of reluctance, Tendo left, but not without saying that he’d text so they could make plans for the upcoming weekend.

When he finally managed to close the front door, Newt slid down it and hugged his knees to his chest. Everything ached and it felt like his head was going to explode. Why was this happening? HOW HAD THIS HAPPENED?! It was impossi—okay, maybe it wasn’t  _impossible_ , highly improbable, that was it. With everything Newt had lived through and seen, nothing was impossible. The methods in which he got to… here. That’s what made this hot mess impossible. Newt had been  _drifting_. Creating a Neural Bridge with someone/something shouldn’t have teleported him to another universe… THAT’S what made no sense.

And if his namesake was any kind of right that meant that if he was here… the Newt from here was now in his universe.

Now Newt felt even worse. Had he really just condemned some innocent person to die by some freak accident?

“Fuck…” he cried, covering his face with trembling arms.

This made no sense…

 

When next Newt opened his eyes, the sun was just beginning to set. His apartment was bathed in orange and pink and it reminded him of the late afternoons he would spend on the ‘Dome’s harbor whenever he needed time to himself.

His heart sank again at the thought.

There had to be something he could do to get his mind off of everything.

He could figure out who he was? A spark of intrigue ignited in his brain. Yeah, he could treat it like a game. He’d have a scavenger hunt on all things Newt-but-not-actually-Newt.

Newt picked himself up off the floor and set to wandering around the apartment.

The bathroom looked just like the mess his was back at the ‘Dome. The counter tops were covered in everything from Q-Tips to nail cutters to hair gel. At least  _he_ could see the organization. Newt was almost fooled into thinking that it was his counter if not for the toothpaste. It was some hipster brand of all-organic-save-the-tooth-paste-trees bullshit that Newt wouldn’t have dared to try and get. The stuff was too damned expensive and a waste of resources in his world.

Yeah, this stuff wasn’t his. It was too luxurious to be his.

Moving on to the bedroom this time, he made sure to look over every detail. Newt recognized all of the paraphernalia because he, too, owned it all. But again, this stuff wasn’t his. The bottom-left corner of the “Godzilla: Final Wars” poster wasn’t torn from where an ex-friend from college had been picking at it as they came down from their first (and Newt’s only) trip. The Mothra plushy he had been suffocating earlier hadn’t had the same fraying antenna, and it hadn’t had glitter on the wings like his did. On some level Newt was proud that he could tell his Godzilla swag apart from someone else’s, but under the circumstances it put a damper on things.

He could really learn to love the memory foam though, he thought as he threw himself onto the mattress. It was nice to feel something that wasn’t metal coils stabbing him in the back. He rolled around, since really, what else was there to do at the moment, before a laptop across the room caught his eye.

“Worth a shot,” he hummed, as he retrieved it and returned to the mattress and its abundance of pillows and blankets.

Newt busted out laughing when he got the password right on the first try. _2008nvrhppnd_. “Oh my God,” he cackled as he held his sides, “I  _am_ a Kaiju Groupie!” It was the password to his laptop. It always was.

He should probably feel bad about going through files on someone else’s laptop, but then again… It was  _kinda_ his, right?

His name plus a few key words typed into a search engine gave him so much background information that he almost felt like he was reading about himself… Okay so maybe he kind of was. But not really. If he was actually reading about himself that’d make him a prick. And Newt wasn’t a prick… Unless Hermann screamed it at him on the days where his pranks maybe went a little too far.

This world’s Newt was pretty cool, if he could say so himself. He had six doctorates too, 4 in varying fields of marine biology, 1 in zoology, and 1 in…  _sedimentology_ … What in the world could have gotten him into geology?!

Newt shuddered at the thought.

More snooping around told him that he did indeed work at an aquarium as a researcher and head handler of all marine life. Newt nodded in approval. That’s something he could get behind. His job was also only a fifteen minute walk away. Convenient.

Happy in the fact that he knew enough about himself to get by, his fingers began typing in the name ‘H. Gottlieb’ before he could even think. He immediately X’d out of the browser. He was already feeling like shit about his new topsy-turvy life; he didn’t need to feel worse knowing that there may be a Hermann in this world that he would undoubtedly pine over too.

He figured that it was in his best interest to stay away from anything and anyone that he knew from his own world. Except Tendo. Newt needed Tendo, and that was probably true for every Newt in every universe imaginable.

With a sigh he shut the laptop and flopped over on the bed. Great, all he needed was to start missing Hermann. He groaned and buried himself in the mountain of blankets.

_Sleep_ , he decided.  _Sleep’s a thing I’ll get then we can see what work’s like tomorrow_.

He tossed his glasses on the night table and closed his eyes, surprised at how fast sleep was ready to have him. For a brief moment he hoped that maybe this was all some horrible dream or some side effect of drifting, but deep down he already knew the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too much happened in this chapter, but the next one I plan on having poor ol' Newt meet a bunch of people!
> 
> Thank you so much for your kind words! It has been a hectic week, and I kept going back to read them when I felt myself starting to give up on that STUPID POSTER THAT I FINISHED TODAY! Summer research, man... I'll hopefully be pretty free until Wednesday, so I'll try my best to write something! On the plus side, when I took breaks making the poster, I thought up a shit ton of stuff I want to do for this so woo! :)
> 
> As always: thank you for reading and stay beautiful! <3

**Author's Note:**

> I truly hoped you enjoyed. I posted this, both because I've really been wanting to and to mollify any angry hearts when I say Scars & Sleeves probably won't get an update for a while... I'm very sorry about that, but I've got another chapter of this one nearly ready to go!
> 
> Please tell me what you think about this one! I crave feedback!
> 
> HOVER TEXT: "Good... I pray you made it, Herms..."
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Stay beautiful!


End file.
